Common Admission Test (CAT)

 

Common Admission Test (CAT)

Common Admission Test (CAT) is a national level entrance examination, which is conducted for admission to management programs in Indian Institutes of Management (IIM's) and top B-Schools across the country. It tests a candidate on his quantitative ability, data interpretation skills, verbal ability and logical reasoning.

CAT also serves as the eligibility criteria for being admitted into the business administration courses in various IIM's spread across the country. The test is designed to evaluate the management aptitude of students by testing his analytical and communication skills. It demands up to three to four months of intense preparation.

The test is open to all graduates. Usually, CAT examination will be held in November every year. CAT is conducted online at the examination centres. In August 2011, it was announced that the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) would also use the CAT scores, instead of Joint Management Test (JMET).

IIMs spread across the country offer post-graduate, doctoral and executive education programmes. The flagship programme is the two-year post-graduate programme, which is residential in nature. The admission to the two-year post-graduate programmes in IIMs is purely based on merit in the Common Admission Test (CAT).

CAT Exam Highlights 

CAT Eligibility 

To apply online for the CAT examination, the candidate must hold a bachelor's degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% in case of the candidates belonging to SC, ST and PWD categories. Students appearing for the final year bachelor's degree are also eligible for the examination. However, they have to produce the bachelor’s degree certificate at the time of admission. 

Courses In IIMs Through CAT 

The CAT examination is conducted for admission to several Post Graduate Programmes (PGP), Doctoral and Executive programmes in IIMs spread across the country. Some institutes even offer Fellowship Programmes in Management (FPM) which is equal to PhD. List of courses offered in IIMs. 

• PGP (Post Graduate Program in Management)
• PGP- FABM (Food and Agribusiness Management)
• PGPEM (PGP in Enterprise Management)
• PGPPM (PGP in Public Policy and Management)
• EPGP (Executive Post Graduate Program in Management)
• PGPSM (PGP in Sustainable Management)
• PGPWE (PGP in Management for Working Executive)
• PGPBM (PGP in Business Management)
• FPM (Fellow Program in Management)

List Of IIMs In India 

There are a total of 20 IIMs across the country. Explore the complete list of IIMs with the year of establishment and state located. 

 

CAT Application Fee

Candidates have to pay the prescribed application fee to complete the CAT registration process. The application fee can be paid through net banking, debit card, credit card, BillDesk, PayU and Paytm.

• For General Category Candidates – Rs 2000/-
• For NC - OBC Category Candidates – Rs 2000/-
• For SC/ST/PwD Category Candidates – Rs 1000/- 
• For All Others – Rs 2000/-

CAT Reservation Criteria 

As per the legal requirements, 15% of the seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC), 7.5% for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, 27% of seats for Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates belonging to the “Non-Creamy” layer (NC-OBC), and 5% for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwD). The categories of disability are: 

• Blindness and low vision
• Deaf and hard of hearing,
• Locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy
• Autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness, and
• Multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d)
• Other 'specified disabilities' mentioned in 'The Schedule' of the RPwD Act 2016

CAT Test Centres

The test is going to be conducted across 140 test cities. Test cities will be mentioned below and the name of the test centre will be indicated in the Admit Card. IIMs reserve the right to change or cancel any test centre/city/change the test time and date at their own discretion. 

State	Test Cities
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	Port Blair
Andhra Pradesh	Guntur, Kakinada, Kurnool, Nellore, Rajahmundry,  Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam
Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar
Assam	Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Silchar
Bihar	Aurangabad, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Purnea
Chandigarh	Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh	Bhilai, Raipur
Delhi	Delhi, New Delhi
Goa	Madgaon, Verna
Gujarat	Ahmedabad, Anand, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara
Haryana	Ambala, Bahadurgarh, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Palwal, Panipath, Rohtak, Sonipat
Himachal Pradesh	Shimla
Jammu & Kashmir	Jammu
Jharkhand	Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Ranchi
Karnataka	Belgaum, Bengaluru, Bidar, Chikkaballapur, Davanagere, Hassan, Kolar, Mandya, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Ramnagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi
Kerala	Kasaragod, Kochi, Kollam, Kozhikode, Malappuram,  Thrissur, Trivandrum
Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Sagar
Maharashtra	Ahmednagar, Amravati, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Kolhapur,  Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Nanded,  Nashik, Pune, Ratnagiri, Satara, Solapur, Thane
Meghalaya	Shillong
Odisha	Balasore, Berhampur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rourkela
Puducherry	Puducherry
Punjab	Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar,  Ludhiana, Mohali, Pathankot, Patiala, Ropar, Sangrur
Rajasthan	Ajmer, Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Sikar, Udaipur
Tamil Nadu	Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelvelli
Telangana	Hyderabad, Karim Nagar, Khammam
Uttar Pradesh	Agra, Allahabad, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow, Mathura, Meerut, Noida, Varanasi
Uttarakhand	Dehradun, Roorkee
West Bengal	Asansol, Burdwan, Durgapur, Hooghly, Howrah, Kalyani, Kolkata, Siliguri

CAT Exam Pattern 

The CAT is a computer-based test carrying a total of 100 questions. It contains both multiple-choice questions (MCQ) and non-MCQ questions. The duration of the exam is three hours.

 

CAT Admit Card

The organising institute is responsible for issuing the CAT admit card. The online CAT admit card will be released during the last week of October. Candidates should download the admit card and check all the details such as personal and test venue details besides exam day guidelines. One should also save the soft copy of the admit card until the end of the admission process.

CAT Syllabus 

The CAT exam consists of three subjects namely, Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC). The syllabus remains the same for every year despite the changes in the number of questions. 

CAT Question Papers 

The previous year question papers and sample papers help aspirants in preparation. One should start their CAT preparation by solving these papers.

CAT Eligibility Criteria

Candidates must know the eligibility criteria and educational qualifications to appear for Common Admission Test (CAT) entrance examination. CAT is the national level entrance examination which is conducted for admission to management programs in IIMs and B-Schools across the country.

• Candidates must have a bachelor's degree in any discipline with minimum of 50% (45% marks for SC/ST/PwD candidates) marks from any of the recognised universities in India
• The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate for the bachelor's degree would be calculated based on the practice followed by the university/institution from where the candidate has obtained the degree
• In case the candidates are awarded grades/CGPA instead of marks, the conversion of grades/CGPA to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure certified by the university/ institution from where they have obtained the bachelor's degree
• Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelor's degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply
• If selected, such candidates will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if he/she submits a certificate latest by the end of the process. Applicants should note that the mere fulfilment of minimum eligibility criteria will not ensure consideration for shortlisting by IIM's

Educational Qualifications CAT:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering/technology (4 years after 10+2/Post B.Sc./Post Diploma) or B.E / B.Tech or its equivalent examinations
• Any qualification recognised by Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi which is equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree awarded by UGC recognized University/Institutions